One of the more frustrating errors you can get on GeekShed asks you to use a “more obscure” password. In most cases, when people comes to #help to ask about this error, they have tried a strange and random password, but still get this error:

Please try again with a more obscure password. Passwords
should be at least five characters long, should not be something
easily guessed (e.g. your real name or your nick), and cannot
contain the space or tab characters.

This error is almost always an indication that the command to register a nick is not being entered correctly. The clue in that error message is that you cannot use your real name or your nick as your password. Be sure that you’re entering the command in this order:

/msg nickserv register supersecretpassword crazyuser@hotmail.com

You do not need to include your nick or real name in the command at all. If you’re looking for information on how to choose a good password, check out the suggestions in How to Protect Your GeekShed Password.

Registering your nickname on GeekShed provides a number of benefits. The most notable of these is that registering your nickname prevents other people from using it. Once a user starts using the nickname, they will be asked to ‘identify’ to it with a password. If they fail to do so, their nickname will be changed. This helps to stop people posing as you.

Once you register your nickname, you can be added to the auto voice and op lists in other people’s channels. This enables you to be a permanent staff member in channels. You are also entitled to a vhost once you have been registered for 90 days.

Registration provides you with many benefits and is completely free.

To register your nickname on GeekShed, you must first be using it. If you are not currently using it, change to it with the command:

/nick <nickname>

For example:

/nick CrazyUser

Once you are using the nickname, you may register it in one of two ways. If you’re using GeekShed’s Flash client, register your nick from the “Options” menu at the top of the window. In most other clients, use the following command:

/ns register <password> <e-mail>

Note that some older clients do not recognize the abbreviated /ns syntax. Instead you must type out the full command:
/msg nickserv register <password> <e-mail>

For example:

/ns register supersecretpassword crazyuser@hotmail.com

Following this, you will be sent an e-mail giving you the details required to finish off the registration. Follow the instructions in the e-mail.

Each time you connect and start using the registered, you will be told that “This nick is owned by someone else”. You must ‘identify’ to it using the following command:

/ns identify <password>

For example:

/ns identify supersecretpassword

If you use mIRC, you can load the following script into the Remotes section of your script editor (press alt+R to access this) to identify you automatically. Just replace ‘YOURPASSWORDHERE’ with your actual password:

Registering your channel on GeekShed gives you many advantages, and is completely free. These include:

Increased control over your channel

Ability to add people to the auto op list

Ability to add auto kicks

Ability to use a services bot to auto moderate your channel

And many many more…

To register your channel, you must first register your nickname. To do this, when you are using the nickname that you wish to register, type the following command into your IRC client:

/ns register password e-mail

You must replace password and e-mail with a real password and e-mail address, respectively. An example of the use of this command is:

/ns register supersecretpassword fred@hotmail.com

It is important that you use your real e-mail address as this will be used in future if you ever forget your password. We will not send any unsolicited e-mail to this address.

Once you have registered your nickname, you can register your channel. All channels names begin with the # symbol, for example #help, #chris and #247fixes. Once you have picked a channel name, you can join it using the command:

/join #channel

For example:

/join #chat

Once you have joined the channel, if it is not already registered, you should see your name in the nickname list with the @ symbol next to it. This means you are an operator in the channel. You may now register it with the following command:

/cs register #channel password description

You must replace #channel, password and description with the channel name, the channel password and a description of the channel. An example of the use of this command is:

/cs register #chat verysecretpassword Freds chat channel

Once you have done that, you should see your name in the nick list prefixed with the ~ symbol. This means you are the owner of the channel.

If you have any problems registering your channel, come and talk to us in #help on irc.geekshed.net